Ash tray



I H. DE'BOER ASH TRAY Filed Sept. 21, 1967' 96 I OO July 1, 1969 ZNV'ENTOR HENRY DEBOER ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,453,034 ASH TRAY Henry De Boer, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to F. L. Jacobs C0., Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Sept. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 669,590 Int. Cl. B60n 3/12 US. Cl. 312216 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The ash tray is of the drawer type conventionally provided in vehicles. A housing is provided for attachment to the dashboard or other suitable support structure within a vehicle. The drawer, which is for the reception of ashes, is slidably received within the housing for withdrawal as the need arises. Each of the side walls of the drawer has a longitudinally extending groove. The grooves serve as guides for rollers provided on the housing. A set of rollers is provided on each side of the housing. At least one set of the rollers is fixedly mounted while the other set may be spring mounted and in resilient engagement with the side wall of the drawer. Both the spring mounted and fixedly mounted rollers are journaled on non-rotatable vertical axles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, drawer type vehicle ash trays have usually been constructed as sliding devices similar in operation to the standard furniture drawer. It has been necessary to provide a tight fit for the drawer in order to avoid rattling of the drawer and inadvertent sliding of the drawer outwardly during operation of the vehicle. As a consequence of the tight fit, such drawers have frequently been diflicult to slide in and out. Further, there has been a tendency for such drawers to jam in the slide guide.

The present invention provides a vehicle ash tray construction utilizing rollers to provide easy sliding while at the same time resulting in a snug fit to prevent rattling or unwanted movement of the drawer. Further, the drawers are so constructed as to avoid the need for providing a bearing structure on the metal housing which supports the rollers. The ash tray construction is susceptible to low cost manufacture and is compact so as to use a minimum amount of space in the vehicle. Further, the construction is such that the drawer will not bind or jam and the design is rugged to withstand hard usage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The vehicle ash tray comprises a housing for fastening to a vehicle. A drawer for ashes is removably received in the housing. The drawer has an elongated guide on each side wall thereof. A set of rollers is mounted on the housing wall adjacent each guide for engagement with the guides. The rollers are mounted on vertical axes. At least one set of rollers is mounted on a fixed axle structure which is received in a bracket struck from the material of the housing. The other set of rollers may be identical to the fixed rollers or may be spring mounted to provide resilient contact with the drawer to thereby permit limited lateral movement of the drawer to prevent jamming of the drawer in the housing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view with portions broken away of one embodiment of a vehicle ash tray in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view in section of the ash tray of FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 22 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along 'ice the line 33 of FIGURE 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view in section of a portion of an ash tray in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1-3 will first be described.

The vehicle ash tray 10 comprises a housing 12 which removably receives an ash drawer 14. The housing 12 is normally secured to the dashboard or other suitable support panel in a vehicle.

The housing 12 comprises an upper wall 16 having downwardly depending side walls 18, 20 and rear wall 22.

The drawer 14 comprises a bottom wall 24, rear wall 26, side walls 28, 30, and forward wall 32. A decorative panel 34 is secured to the forward wall 32. The upper portion 36 of the panel 34 is offset forwardly of the drawer to provide a finger engageable ledge for pulling the drawer out of the housing. A cigarette snuifer 38 is provided interiorly of the forward wall 32 for the usual purpose.

Each of the drawer side walls 28, 30 has a longitudinally extending groove 40, 42 adjacent to the upper edge thereof. The grooves 40, 42 serve as guides for rollers provided on the housing.

One set of rollers 44 is fixedly mounted on the side wall 18 while the other set of rollers 46 is spring mounted on the other wall 20. The set of rollers 44 comprise a pair of roller elements 48, 50 each mounted on a bracket structure which is struck from the metal of the housing side wall 18. Each of the brackets comprises a pair of spaced apart horizontally extending ears 52, 54 which are struck from the material of the side wall. It will be noted in FIGURE 1 that openings 56, 58 are thus formed in the side wall. The center portion 60 which remains after the ears have been struck provides structure sufiicient to support the cars. A pair of openings are provided in the cars 52, 54 for the reception of a rivet 62 which serves as an axle for rotatable mounting of the roller element 48.

Fabrication of the bracket and roller construction may comprise the steps of first striking the ears of the brackets out of the side wall 18 by means of a punching apparatus. A pair of openings 64, 65 may be simultaneously formed in the upper wall 16 directly above the ears. The roller elements 48, 50 are then inserted in place. A riveting tool, which comprises fixed anvils and movable hammers having a rivet feeding device may then be inserted into the housing with the anvil located beneath the ears and the movable elements thereabove. The riveting operation then takes place by the movable element passing through the openings above the ears to drive a rivet through each of the ears and roller elements and upsetting one end of the rivet to form the final construction in which rivets have enlarged heads at each end to retain the rollers in place.

The rollers are preferably fabricated of a slippery plastic material such as nylon, which may be termed selflubricating. The rollers are rotatably mounted on the rivets which have a relatively smooth, anti-friction surface. There is thus no need for a special bearing construction or for lubrication of the roller members after the ash tray has been mounted in a vehicle. This method of manufacture thus obviates the necessity for providing a bearing structure in the material of the housing side walls. It is somewhat diflicult to provide a satisfactory punchedout smooth bearing in the side walls because of the generally crude nature of the punching operation.

The set of rollers 46 on the other side of the housing comprises a spring member 68 which is mounted directly on the housing side wall 20 by struck out portion 76 of the side wall which forms a clamp. The spring 68 is formed of flat spring stock and has a central straight portion 70. The free portions 72, 74 are angled inwardly to- 3 Wards the side wall 30 of the drawer. The ends 78, 80 are turned to form a circular bushing structure for reception of the axles 82, '84 of rollers 86, 88. The ends 78, 80 are not completely closed, permitting insertion of the axles of the rollers. Elongated openings are provided in the spring structure to accommodate the rollers.

As will be appreciated, the rollers 86, 88 are biased into resilient contact with the side wall 30 and ride in the groove 42. Sufiicient restraining force is exerted by the rollers 86, 88 to prevent the drawer from sliding in and out as a result of vehicle motion. It will :be noted that the drawer 14 'as thus far described is completely free from contact with the interior of the housing 12. The fixed set of rollers 44 reacts against the bias provided by the spring mounted set of rollers 46 to result in complete support of the drawer 14 by the rollers.

Completely free movement of the drawer is inhibited by means of a spring 90 which is mounted on the rear wall 26 of the drawer. The spring 90 has a downwardly extending lip 92 which is secured to the wall 26. An upwardly inclined portion 94 extends from the lip 92 and carries an anti-friction button element 96 which is in sliding contact with the under surface of the upper wall 16 of the housing 12. The frictional drag provided by this sliding contact prevents movement of the drawer as a result of vehicle motion. Additionally, the spring 90 prevents up and down wobble of the drawer.

The spring 90 has a downwardly directed portion 98 which carries a rubber stop element 100. The stop 100 serves to prevent complete withdrawal of the drawer from the housing during normal use. A downwardly extending projection 102 is struck out of the housing top wall. When the stop 100 engages the projection 102, further withdrawal of the drawer is prevented. However, the drawer may be completely removed by depressing the spring 90 so that the stop 100 will clear the projection 102.

An additional feature of the invention may be seen in FIGURE 2. Elongated openings 104, 106 are provided in the side wall 30 in registry with the rollers 86, 88. The openings are of suificient size to permit passage of at least a portion of the rollers exteriorly of the housing. The drawer 14 can thus be cocked a considerable distance from side to side without jamming or binding the rollers. This arrangement also permits a relatively large tolerance in the physical dimensions of the various components.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 4 varies from that illustrated in FIGURES l-3 in that the spring mounted roller structure is replaced by a fixedly mounted roller structure so that the roller structures on either side of the drawer are in fixed relation to the side walls of the drawer.

The ash tray 108 comprises a housing 110 and drawer 112 which are substantially similar to the same elements previously described in connection with FIGS. 13. The side walls 114, 116 of the drawer 112 have elongated grooves 118, 120 for reception of rollers 124, 126, 128, 130 mounted in bracket structures 132, 134, 136, 138 struck from the side walls in the manner previously described.

The FIGURE 4 e mbodiment does not incorporate the feature of side-to-side cocking which is present in the case of the spring mounted roller construction. However, the FIGURE 4 embodiment does possess the advantage of inexpensive fabrication in that a special spring structure is not required. Additionally, the bearing feature, that is, the lack of the need to provide a smooth bearing in the material of the housing, is incorporated in all of the roller mountings of FIGURE 4.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A vehicle ash tray comprising a housing for fastening to a vehicle, a drawer for ashes removably received in said housing, said drawer having an elongated guide at each side thereof, roller means carried by the housing on each side thereof, each roller means in rolling engagement with one of the guides, at least one of said roller means including at least one bracket structure on the housing, said bracket structure having a pair of spaced apart Walls, said walls having aligned openings therein, said openings having irregular contours, a substantially vertical axle non-rotatably extending through said openings carried by the bracket structure, and a roller journaled on the axle and in rolling engagement with the adjacent guide.

2. An ash try as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that each of said roller means includes at least a pair of rollers each individually mounted.

3. An ash try as defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that each of said roller means comprises a bracket structure on the housing having said substantially vertical axle non-rotatably carried thereby and a roller journaled on the axle in rolling engagement with the adjacent guide.

4. An ash tray as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said bracket structure comprises a pair of vertically spaced apart ears struck from the material of the housing, said axle extending between said ears.

5. An ash tray as defined in claim 4 and further characterized in that said axle is a rivet having an enlarged head at each end exteriorly of the ears to retain the rivet in place.

6. An ash try as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that at least one of said roller means comprises a spring structure secured to the housing, a pair of rollers journaled in said spring structure and biased into resilient engagement with the adjacent guide on the drawer.

7. An ash try as defined in claim 6 and further characterized in that said housing has aperture means in registry with the rollers journaled on the spring means, said spring means comprising an elongated spring structure secured intermediate the ends thereof to the housing, each free end of said spring being in alignment with the aperture means, a portion of each free end extending towards the adjacent guide, said rollers being carried by each extending portion of the spring in resilient engagement with the adjacent guide, at least a portion of each of the rollers carried by the spring being movable through the aperture means in the housing as a result of pressure applied by the drawer.

8. A vehicle ash try comprising a housing for fastening to a vehicle, a drawer for ashes removably received in said housing, said drawer having an elongated groove on each side thereof, roller means carried by the housing on each side thereof, each roller means having rollers in rolling engagement with the adjacent groove, at least one of said roller means including a bracket structure on the housing, and substantially vertical axle means non-rotatably carried by the bracket structure, and rollers journaled on the axle means and in rolling engagement with the adjacent groove, the other of said roller means comprising a spring structure on said housing adjacent its groove, said spring structure having a portion extending toward its respective groove, and a roller carried by the spring structure in resilient engagement with the respective groove.

9. An ash try as defined in claim 8 and further characterized in that said bracket structure comprises vertically spaced apart ears struck from the material of the housing, said axle means extending between said ears.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 383,689 5/1888 Barns 3l234l X 2,462,397 2/ 1949 Hendricks 312246 2,809,877 10/1957 Hammesfahr 312246 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

